Top 15 Tamarack Artists

In commemoration of Tamarack's 15th anniversary, we celebrate the talents of some of its top artists.

Written by Rachel Henderson

Published: June 13, 2011

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ROBBY MOORE
VISUAL ARTIST
Beckley

Robby Moore has been making art for 31 years. “I have always made art,” he says. “As a child, I loved to draw and paint, so I was always crafting and making things, and my parents encouraged these instincts. By the time I got to high school, I had decided making art would be my profession.”

Robby works with every medium. He started with simple media like oils and acrylics, but eventually his work shifted to mixed media. After college, he began incorporating found objects into his paintings and has since continued to use many nontraditional media, including found objects, paper, fabric, and wood. “I use materials that most people consider useless,” he says. “I love giving found objects purpose and uncovering the beauty in unwanted and wasted materials.”

Robby recently decided to devote himself solely to his art and its promotion. “I am very pleased that people like my art enough to have selected me for Tamarack’s Top 15 artists,” he says. “I am happy to be a part of such a distinguished list of artists.”

ZACK ORCUTT
FINE ARTIST
Zorcutt
Parkersburg

Zack Orcutt lives by the words: “Keep your head in the clouds, a smile on your face, and your feet on the ground.” The sculptor and potter moved to Parkersburg in 2007 and soon thereafter took a job at WVU-Parkersburg. He dove into school and community life—rebuilding and renovating the art program and studio at WVU-Parkersburg and immersing himself in the community arts, contributing his talents to the Parkersburg Actors Guild and WVU-Parkersburg Theatre program and donating thousands of dollars worth of ceramic work to charities.

“I was born an artist, raised among a community of artists, writers, and performers, as well as some of the world’s leading scientists and researchers, and my early interest in the arts was supported by my parents,” Zack says. He fell in love with sculpture in college. “I love the physicality of the creation and the permanence of works when they are complete,” he says. He has been perfecting his technique as part of his job at WVU-Parkersburg.

As a teacher, Zack shares these words of wisdom for new artists: “It takes practice, practice, and more practice to get it right! It takes patience and persistence. Do not go into art for the money—be resourceful. Remember this motto: Get it right, get it fast, and get it out there!”

Although he is not a native of West Virginia, Zack is doing everything he can to find art a stable home in the Mountain State. “Tamarack is a beacon of light,” he says. “Tamarack means that there is support for artists here in the state. There is a great set of people committed to helping artists improve, promote, and sell their wares.”

“I believe that art and creativity are in all of us,” Terry Quentrill says. “My encouragement to young or new artists is to create every day. Join a group that will support your endeavors. Learn from others and emulate their techniques. Sometimes my art is readily accepted and other times not, but that doesn’t stop me from creating what is within me.”

Terry learned her first lettering forms as a young woman under the tutelage of Yvette Rutledge, an engraver and lettering artist. The two women, with about eight other people, started The Charleston Calligrapher’s Guild, and Terry remains active in that group today. She continues to promote the art of lettering across the state, but she also strives to continue her own studies. “I love the written word and the power to create art that visually and spiritually speaks to someone,” Terry says. “When I first began calligraphy, I did the typical black ink on white paper, but over the years, I have taken a plethora of mixed media workshops and lettering classes with so very many talented artists and have advanced to my own interpretation of mixed media calligraphic art.”

Terry has been a juried artist at Tamarack for about a year. “Tamarack is not just a venue for me to show my art. It also serves as a means of validation from the artists that juried me in. I am very honored to be juried into Tamarack.”

ELAINE SINCLAIR
BASKETS & PRIMITIVE CRAFTS
Salem

For about three years, Elaine Sinclair has been working with Tamarack selling her goods, from baskets and penny rugs to primitive crafts and hand-painted items. “Tamarack has provided an opportunity for my artwork to reach a broader clientele,” she says. “The buyers for Tamarack have always been very supportive and encouraging and continue to show enthusiasm when I make my deliveries or bring new ideas.”

Elaine started crafting as a young woman. She wasn’t always able to buy the crafts she enjoyed, so she started to make them for herself. “I enjoy the creativity and excitement of making new things,” she says. In 1989, she took her first basket class from the extension homemakers club, and after that, Elaine couldn’t get enough. Now she teaches classes all over the country. “I love the teaching part and seeing a student’s reaction to a completed project,” she says.

WV LIVING magazine announces the winners of the 2nd Annual Reader Photo Contest in the categories: people, animals, places and landscapes, black and white.

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